OKLAHOMA SUPREME COURT: Judge accused of misusing powers

Saturday

Mar 3, 2018 at 10:05 PM

By Nathan Thompson | nthompson@examiner-enterprise.com

A Bartlesville woman claims Washington County District Judge Curtis DeLapp abused his authority when he ruled she was in contempt of court for talking in court and gesturing to a friend from the courthouse door, according to documents filed last week with the Oklahoma Supreme Court.

Attorneys representing Randa Kaylie Ludlow, 19, filed an application and writ of habeas corpus, asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to intervene after DeLapp placed her in jail for contempt of court, documents filed in the case show.

The documents allege DeLapp abused his power as a judge and unlawfully placed her in the Washington County jail on the contempt charge to serve a six-month sentence. Her attorneys are questioning the sentence, which they claim is excessive.

Ludlow’s attorneys also state district court records do not make it clear if DeLapp found Ludlow in direct contempt of court or indirect contempt of court, an important legal distinction.

The petition asks the state Supreme Court to assume jurisdiction in the case and to release Ludlow from jail on the writ of habeas corpus — a legal term requesting release from custody, unless lawful grounds show Ludlow was correctly detained.

Ludlow’s case was scheduled to be heard by a state Supreme Court referee Friday morning. As of Saturday afternoon, Ludlow was still in Washington County Jail on the contempt charge.

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Ludlow’s claim

According to court documents, the contempt charge stems from a Nov. 8 incident at the Washington County Courthouse. Attorneys for Ludlow claim she was in DeLapp’s courtroom as a spectator.

“She was having a conversation with her boyfriend’s mother who was sitting beside her when a deputy told her not to talk,” according to the court filings. The Washington County deputy told Ludlow to leave the courtroom after she again “spoke to her friend.”

Ludlow’s attorneys claim she did as she was told, and left the courtroom, but decided she was going to check in with her probation officer. The attorney’s brief states she went up to the courtroom door’s window and “gestured to her friend that she was going go downstairs” to check in with probation. The same sheriff deputy came out of the courtroom and escorted Ludlow to DeLapp’s chambers.

Ludlow’s attorneys state DeLapp left the bench in the courtroom and met with Ludlow in his chambers, where he ordered her to leave the courthouse, not just the courtroom. Ludlow told DeLapp she needed to check in with her probation officer and could not leave the courthouse without first doing so. DeLapp ordered Ludlow to leave the courthouse again, but Ludlow said she would have to check with probation first.

“Without further warning, Judge DeLapp ordered the deputy to take (Ludlow) into custody and sentenced her to 30 days flat time in the Washington County Jail,” the petition states. “The deputy grabbed (Ludlow’s) arm and bent it behind her back, causing (Ludlow) excruciating pain and she blurted out that it hurt. Judge DeLapp then changed her sentence to six months in the Washington County Jail.”

On Nov. 13, Ludlow appeared before DeLapp without an attorney on the contempt charge. The judge released her from jail and held the rest of her six-month sentence under advisement. She was ordered return to court on Dec. 12 and Jan. 9.

During the Jan. 9 hearing, Ludlow appeared before DeLapp without an attorney. DeLapp discovered Ludlow had new criminal charges against her, speeding and driving under suspension. Ludlow’s attorneys claim she was sentenced to serve the remainder of her contempt sentence, five months and 27 days.

DeLapp’s sentencing order was for Ludlow to serve the remainder of the sentence on “flat time,” meaning no time can be removed from the sentence for good behavior.

In the brief filed in the state Supreme Court, Ludlow’s attorney asserts there is no documentation in district court records whether or not Ludlow was found directly in contempt or indirectly in contempt of court. Defendants found to be indirectly in contempt are entitled to legal counsel, where defendants found to be directly in contempt are not.

An attempt by the Examiner-Enterprise to contact Ludlow’s attorneys was unsuccessful.

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DeLapp’s response

“My recollection, the sheriff’s deputies’s recollection and the court minute clerk’s recollection of the events in question are very different than what Ms. Ludlow is claiming,” DeLapp said Friday.

DeLapp forwarded a 17-page response document to the Examiner-Enterprise, outlining the circumstances surrounding Ludlow’s contempt case. The document includes DeLapp’s response to the state Supreme Court case, three statements from Washington County deputies and a statement from a court minute clerk, who all witnessed the incident.

The documents allege Ludlow was not asked to leave the courtroom for talking to her friend, but that she was asked to leave the courthouse after repeated warnings from sheriff’s deputies to stop talking with her boyfriend, Christopher Cox. He was in the custody of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and was appearing in court on three felony counts.

Cox was not seated in the public area of the courtroom, but was sitting with a large group of inmates facing the court, beyond the wooden bar that separates the public viewing area from the court, the document’s show.

Prior to DeLapp taking the bench, the sheriff deputies’ statements say Ludlow was repeatedly warned not to talk to Cox, as it is a security policy of the sheriff’s office while inmates are in court. The deputies said they told Ludlow if it continues, she would have to leave the courthouse, not just the courtroom because of the security policy.

DeLapp’s statement said he then took the bench to handle the business of the court and he noticed a deputy having a conversation with Ludlow, where she then left the courtroom.

“As I continued the docket, (Ludlow) continued several times to open the swinging doors to the courtroom and attempted to talk to Mr. Cox. …” DeLapp wrote in his response. “I decided to take a break to address the continued disruptions and to determine whether there was a security problem that needed to be addressed …”

In his chambers, DeLapp spoke with one of the sheriff deputies about what was going on and directed the deputy to bring Ludlow to his office, the document states. DeLapp advised Ludlow to not talk to the inmates and that she had been ordered by deputies to leave the courthouse.

Ludlow told DeLapp she needed to check in with probation, but DeLapp said she could do that another day and instructed her to comply with the deputy’s order to leave, or she could be arrested for the security risk. Ludlow continued to argue with DeLapp, the statement says, and he warned her that if she did not stop, she could be held in contempt and remanded to jail.

DeLapp’s statement continues by saying Ludlow intensified her arguments and he found her to be in contempt and ordered her to 30 days in jail. The argument intensified again where Ludlow’s voice could be heard down the hallway and in the courtroom itself, so DeLapp increased the sentence to 90 days and again to the maximum of six months when Ludlow would not stop disturbing the court.

Ludlow was taken to jail and appeared before DeLapp on Nov. 13. DeLapp released her from jail on the contempt charge, and took the remainder of the sentence under advisement. DeLapp’s document says he told Ludlow “if she stayed out of trouble it would be completely suspended.”

During the Jan. 9, court appearance on the contempt charge, DeLapp learned Ludlow had appeared before another Washington County judge four days prior on two criminal charges, one a felony and the other a misdemeanor — that happened after the contempt incident in November. Ludlow pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor. Additionally, the judge in the criminal cases issued a bench warrant against Ludlow because she failed to appear in court after making a promise to pay toward the misdemeanor case.

“(Ludlow) was advised that since she had committed new crimes after being released from the jail on the direct contempt of court charges and failed to appear as ordered … she was being remanded to the custody of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office,” to serve the remainder of her contempt charge.

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